A TALE OF TWO SEDERS

A Tale of Two Seders by Mindy Avra Portnoy
Illustrations by Valeria Cis
($17.95, hardcover, $7.95 paperback www.karben.com, ages 5 to 9)
Splitting the two nights of Passover between her parents’ two houses after their divorce isn’t easy, but the main character in this poignant picture book finds something positive about the experience. Over the course of three years, she attends six seders and watches as her mom and dad move on with their lives in different ways. Author Mindy Avra Portnoy uses the seders to convey the little girl’s feelings as she adjusts to new people and new traditions. I liked Portnoy’s use of charoset (a varying mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine representing the mortar used by Jewish slaves when building cities for the Egyptian Pharaoh) at her dad’s apartment, her mom’s home and at the synagogue as a way to show that families also vary in composition. The girl’s mom explains: Some are sweeter than others. But each one is tasty in its own way. The end pages contain four charoset recipes and a handy glossary.